Terribilist Est Locus Iste
by SilentAcid
Summary: World is a scary place - especially when you don't know what exactly is going on and you can't tell who is your friend and who is an enemy. Vampire Knight AU. Various pairings, will contain triggering themes. Rating will go up with future chapters.
1. Chapter I - Arclights

The night was the most genuinely beautiful. The sky was cloudless, making the stars, that seemed to shine unusually brightly, really well visible. Moon in the third quarter was so bright that one couldn't say it was dark - some could even get confused and claim it was still daytime. The light breeze was moving the leaves softly, spreading the pleasant noise and scent around.

But no matter how beautiful the night was, it didn't help to ease the unpleasant feeling that Michael Arclight had while on his way to the Cross Academy. He just knew something was wrong - he could read it out of his father's silence and Chris' - his oldest brother's - frown. And, until now, it never really occured that Byron had to take them from the mansion for a longer time. But he didn't ask and wasn't going to - he knew they wouldn't tell him anyway.

He let out a barely audible sigh as they got out of the carriage and turned to take a look at the school he was supposed to attend starting with next night.

"At least it doesn't look so bad." He heard a sharp comment. It was his other older brother, Thomas. He was just as confused about the whole idea of being suddenly sent to school as Michael, as well as highly unsatisfied with it - and he didn't even try to hide it. Michael had to agree with the comment, though - the Academy's building didn't look bad at all. It reminded him more of a castle than actual school - and he could just sense the big garden inside. Maybe he could even like the place...

"Oh, brighten up Thomas. I'm sure you will have a lot of fun there!" a childish voice answered; it was always deceiving for others, but the eight-years-old-looking boy wasn't their another brother - he was their father, Byron. As far as they knew, it was his powers that kept him in this shape - it never really concerned them, though, thus they never asked.

"Fun? _Fun?!_ You've got to be fucking kidding me! How the fuck am I supposed to have—"

"Watch your mouth, young man." Thomas' sharp response was interrupted by a calm, cold voice - Chris finally got out of the carriage too and delayed taking their suitcases out for a moment to put his brother back in order. Thomas was about to snap back, but seeing his brother's daring glare, he backed down. No one wanted to fight Chris in any way when he was in bad mood - not even him.

"Tche. Whatever."

Michael bit his lower lip discreetly, he hated when the atmosphere in his family was so tense. Even more so, when he couldn't do anything about it - like right now.

"Now take your stuff and get inside. We still need to get some formalities done, but the headmaster promised to send some guide for you two," Chris said, handing over Michael's suitcase. He probably tried to smile, but what appeared on his face in the end was more like an apologetic grimace.

"We'll be fine, big brother." Michael's answer was quick, he didn't even really think before he replied - he just needed to assure Chris that whatever the matter was, he doesn't have to worry about the two of them, they'll handle it.

Thomas only shrugged, turning his back on them.

The youngest Arclight looked at his oldest brother, but he had already turned his back on him too, taking his own suitcase out. Thomas was already walking away, so with a heavy sigh, he followed.__

_It's gonna be alright...  
_

* * *

When they crossed the Academy's gate, Thomas disappeared. Michael should've expected that, it was totally like Thomas to rebel and run away when he was supposed to obey an order - whether it'd be a simple guide or an older vampire. He didn't listen to even Chris or Byron, like he's shown now.

Michael was the exact opposite - he followed commands without words or questions, as long as he was sure no one would get hurt too severely—or the command wasn't about feeding on someone.

He was the only Arclight who just wasn't doing it - while Byron used to drink from his wife, Eva, and, after she died - from Chris; Chris drank from his parents - mostly father - and Michael was sure he fed on his best friend too; Thomas drank from whatever he managed to catch, whether it be a human, another vampire or a Level E - more often than not it ended up being Michael. But Michael himself was stuck on blood tablets, even in the most critical situations refusing to drink actual blood.

The young vampire looked around and sighed loudly. Now that he was left on his own, he started getting anxious - he was really worried as to what it was gonna be like and now he didn't even have anything else to think about to distract himself. He wanted to believe it was going to be alright... but he just couldn't.

With every step into the Academy, he was getting more anxious and more paranoid - or was he just scared with realizing some things? Like the fact that it obviously was a sudden decision, seeing how not all the formalities were settled. Or how sudden their mother's death was. Or that they haven't heard from Kaito for a while - and Chris was visibly upset.

Just what in the worlds had happened?  
"Hey, you there!" An unfamiliar voice brutally dragged him back to earth - what he was actually greatly grateful for. When he turned around, to localize the person said voice could belong to, he saw a short, dark haired boy with pink fringe, wearing Day Class uniform, a bit younger than himself, he guessed.

"Are you one of the Arclight brothers, by any chance?" the stranger asked, but Michael didn't really pay attention, he was more focused on the sword the boy had by his side - he'd bet it was a hunter weapon. No, it must have been, who would carry a sword like this with them if they weren't a hunter - but why would a hunter accost him here...? Why would a hunter be here, in the first place?

"Hey, buddy. Are you there?"

Michael shook his head lightly, blinking out of his thoughts again. He looked straight at the stranger, this time paying attention fully - much to his confusion, the boy laughed softly. Arclight gave him questioning look, he stopped laughing at once and cleared his throat before explaining;

"Seeing how you were staring at my kusaragi, you must be either a vampire or a hunter finding himself in the Academy illegally." The explanation, however, didn't help much at all - Michael only got more confused. Although now he was completely sure about the stranger being a hunter.

"Name's Yuma Tsukumo, I'm headmaster's grandson. And I was supposed to keep an eye on our new students tonight, to make sure they won't get lost in here—but I lost them before I even found them, haha," he added quickly, rather nervously. Apparently he took Michael's slight frown for another unexpressed question - and this time his words actually helped to clear the situation.

"Oh, so you're our guide?" Michael asked, when Yuma nodded, he smiled softly, seemingly relieved. Right in time, he was actually about to literally get lost—either in Academy or in his own thoughts. "I'm Michael Arclight, and there was supposed to be my brother with me... but I lost him somewhere," he added, visibly troubled. The hunter laughed softly again, confusing the vampire for a moment once more.

"I hope he can take care of himself, then... and that he won't try to attack anyone. I wouldn't want a new student to have to deal with my grandma on the very first day - she's really ruthless when it comes to that."

"Your family are... hunters?" Michael didn't really ask, it was more of a questioning statement of the fact, than an actual question. Yuma seemed to get somehow perplexed now.

"They are, yeah," he confirmed. "I'm not exactly a hunter yet, though. I never really was on a real hunt, even though my parents promised me—" He seemingly wanted to continue, but he broke here and just stared bluntly in the space between him and Michael. The vampire didn't even have to ask to guess something had happened to the boy's parents - most likely they died on a hunt. It wasn't uncommon among hunters, after all.

"I'm sorry for asking," Arclight muttered bitterly, turning his head away. He knew what it felt like, after all not so long ago his mother was attacked by a hunter and slaughtered. Much to his own surprise, he got an answer really quickly, barely after a few seconds - and it was exclaimed in the same, cheerful tone the boy used before;

"It's fine, dude. I'm gonna bring it to 'em anyway." The smile already crawled back on Yuma's face; Michael was more confused than ever before in his life - mostly with the weird statement - but he wasn't going to dwell on it. He was glad to see that Yuma was handling it somehow.

"So, should I show you the campus, or do you want to see your room first?"

The pink-haired boy blinked several times confused, as if he didn't understand the question. Finally, after glancing over at his suitcase, he gave the answer;

"I guess my room would go first. I'd rather not walk around the school carrying this."

This time, they both laughed.

* * *

Chris was already in his room, all the formalities were fixed already, starting with next night Michael and Thomas were new Night Class students and he was the class' teacher. It all seemed to be calm and alright by now - he could only hope it would stay this way.

"Something's bothering you, Christopher." He heard his father's childish voice. He sighed softly, turning away from the window, that he was bluntly staring at, to look at him. He didn't bother to try and fake a smile anymore, he didn't have to - Byron knew everything.

"I just wonder if we're doing the right by thing not telling them," he admitted. In his opinion, Michael and Thomas deserved to know why they were taken here so suddenly and what exactly happened to their mother - but Byron forbade him to tell them, saying it was better, safer for them to not be aware.

"They'll be fine," the man-child assured, gesturing to him to come closer. The silver-haired vampire walked toward his bed, on which his father was sitting; Byron tugged at his son's sleeve lightly, not saying a word of explanation, and continued until Chris eventually understood the elder vampire wanted him to sit down as well - which he did right after he caught the thought.

"I don't think they'd want to know about their best friend's betrayal," the man-child whispered, Chris shuddered next to him. Maybe he was right—oh, how much he wanted to believe he was—personally, he hated to know about it, his mind still refused to fully accept it, even if he knew it was true.

Byron moved on the bed and a second later Chris could feel his father's arms wrap around him from behind - not a child's arms, a _man's_. The younger vampire sighed contently when he felt his hair being brushed aside and a moment later - his father's lips on his neck.

"It will be alright... I will make it be," he heard Byron whisper again; now his voice was deeper, more mature - and hearing it instantly sent shivers down his spine. Chris closed his eyes and tilted his head back, feeling his father's hot breath on his skin; feeling his fingers working up to remove his coat.

Once he was freed from said piece of clothing, the elder vampire threw him onto the bed - not expecting it completely he gasped loudly as his back hit the mattresss, his chest was falling and raising rapidly as he gazed deep into his father's golden eyes while he was leaning over him.

He let out a pleased purr when their lips met, Byron smiled into the kiss, he liked how Chris never objected in any way. Deepening the kiss, he moved his hands up, to unbutton his son's shirt. It was the last moment they were supposed to share for a very long time - and he was going to make the best of it.

When he felt Byron's lips move lower, Chris tilted his head back, to give him full access to his neck - he expected it would happen, he was the only one his father fed on, after all. And even though it's been a while already, since he refused to take blood from him or anyone else, he had no reason to refuse giving him his own - it wasn't like anyone else wanted it. Not anymore.

"I can still smell him on you," Byron whispered, his hot breath teasing his eldest's skin. Chris bit his lower lip lightly, embarrassed. He should've expected he knew about this too, he always knew. But soon he relaxed, feeling his parent's fangs sink into his neck; for this moment he was able to forget everything.

The moment lasted much longer than he initially expected, Byron made sure he wouldn't think about anything but him during their last hours together and that only sounds he'd make would be signs of pleasure.

* * *

Thomas, as could be expected, quickly got lost in the campus. He didn't mind actually - except for the fact that he still had to drag his damn suitcase with him, he should have waited for the troublesome guide and visited his room first. But this way he didn't have to think about a way to escape, he was already on his own.

"Troublesome place," he muttered, rubbing the back of his head. At least it was decently big and good enough looking—he expected something more similar to typical boring school, not an actual castle with a big-ass garden.

He was pleasingly disappointed.

As he wandered around, he, to be perfectly honest, looked for someone—or at least something, though he'd prefer to not go that low—to feed on. He didn't particularly care about school rules and he wasn't going to. Nothing would change his eating habits, no way in the world he'd let that happen.

He smirked slightly once he smelled a human around. Skilled at it as he was, he could tell it was a male, a teenager. Definitely student of the Academy, he thought. Even if he'd let him go alive, he didn't think he'd report the assault - he was breaking the rules too, after all. It was like asking for it.

He walked toward the fontain, where the boy he smelled should be; once he came close enough to hear whether he was saying anything or not - there was a slight chance he would be a hunter, if so, he'd definitely notice him by now - he realized he wasn't alone. He kept asking a second person to get out of the fontain. Not a surprise the Arclight didn't notice there were two of them - water must have neutralized the smell.

He didn't complain though, bigger meal, the better.

Finally he got close enough to see them - the boy he smelled first was about his height and had rather long purple hair. He wasn't wearing school uniform—though maybe he should have, Thomas thought, looking at his shirt. He still couldn't see the other person aside from the top of their head—all he could tell was that they had dark blue hair with light blue fringe.

"For god's sake, Rio!" the boy whined loudly, crossing his arms on his chest; Thomas leaned onto nearest tree, it seemed he was gonna get some show too - and he didn't mind watching.

"Pff, it's only good when you do it, isn't it?" the other person replied finally; Arclight licked his lips hungrily at the sound of pleasant, even though highly irritated, female voice.

"I do it during _the day_ \- it's much colder now. I don't want you to get sick," the boy explained and Thomas had to bite down at his lip to keep himself from snickering. Who the hell was he, her mother?

"I'll be fine, Ryoga! I'm not a little kid," the girl protested, the only anwer she got was a loud, displeased huff from the purple-haired male. The vampire tilted his head to the side; that sounded so familiar... he could really relate to _Rio_. He shook his head quickly, he wasn't supposed to feel sorry for her - he was going to kill her in a moment anyway.

"And it's not even really that cold..."

"Rio. Get out."

A moment of silence before Thomas heard splash of the water and had seen the boy's shoulders relax - so she had given up already? How boring. He expected this quarrel to last a little longer, to get more dramatic - but well, at least he could finally see tonight's dinner.

The girl was almost the same height as the boy, but she had much longer hair - it was falling down to her hips. All she was wearing was a powder pink bikini, so Thomas had a very good sight on her curves—and did he like what he saw. He licked his lips again fidgetingly, feeling his fangs itch painfully. _He wanted her_._  
_He was about to move from his hideout and go to attack them, when he felt a light breeze... and he just froze. It wasn't about the wind, however, but the _scent_ that hit him together with it—it wasn't like anything he's smelled before, it was so stunning, so mesmerizing... definitely not human. And it obviously belonged to that girl, who was shivering now, even though her friend? covered her with his jacket - because there wasn't anyone else around.

Just... what in the worlds was she?

* * *

Michael's trip around the school came to an end eventually, by this time his mood improved; talking to Yuma definitely helped him, his thoughts drifted far, far away from his worries, he almost forgot they actually existed.

He got to hear many stories about Yuma's father—whatever had happened to him, it didn't seem to kill the boy's spirit in the slightest—he also got to know where "bringing it to 'em" came from: it was Yuma's father's way of life, that his son decided to follow as well. Michael really enjoyed listening to these stories, he liked how passionate Yuma was about it, he seemed to be really devoted to his father and other members of his family, what the Arclight found really endearing—it also reminded him of himself.

"... and I hope you enjoyed the tour," Yuma said, once they reached Michael's—and Thomas' too, as he got to know earlier—room again; he bent down animatedly, making Michael laugh loudly. Again.

"It was really great. Thanks a lot," the vampire answered, wiping the corners of his eyes with the side of his hand. "I hope we'll get to hang out sometimes, even though we're in different classes," he added.

"Mhm!" Yuma nodded enthusiastically, smiling brightly. "I'm sure we'll get plenty of occasion to bring it to 'em together!"

Michael laughed once more.

"And now, I have to go, cause like, you know," the hunter-in-training rolled his eyes. "Classes in the morning and stuff."

"Sure thing." Getting serious at once, Arclight nodded. "Goodnight, Yuma."

"Yeah, see you sometime!" Almost a second after Michael heard that, Yuma wasn't there anymore. The vampire smiled to himself, letting out a soft sigh as he opened the door and walked into the room. He might've just met him, but he really liked Yuma. He most likely just needed such a positive, cheerful person in his life.

He really couldn't understand why hunters were considered bad by other vampires. Or was it that he's only met nice ones so far?


	2. Chapter II - Tsukumo

She came back home early in the morning, dirty and exhausted, but victorious. She had finally taken down that really troublesome Level E that was terrorizing the city recently. She wondered where all these monsters were coming from; purebloods were pretty much... extinct, after all. Could it be that some survived the massacre that happened fifteen years ago?

Putting her gun, hachiwara and helmet—when hunting, she was always riding a motorcycle, it made chasing vampires so much easier—aside, she let her hair down, and, taking off her boots beforehand, she walked into the bathroom.

A loud sigh escaped her lips as she looked into the mirror; she was aware she probably looked horrible with all the dust, sweat, blood, various scratches covering her face, and her hair tangled and messy, but it was even worse than she expected. She definitely needed to go straight to bed, after taking a shower.

Throwing off all of her clothes, she tossed them to the laundry basket and stepped into the shower. Once the warm water reached her skin, she sighed contently. All of her overly tensed, until now, muscles relaxed instantly. It was exactly what she needed right now.

She definitely spent much more time in there than she should, but she didn't really care. She deserved some decent relaxation time after well done job, after all, or so she assumed.

Eventually she went out, put on something clean and left the bathroom, while drying her hair with a towel. In the living room she found her grandmother... waiting for her? Why?

She mentioned she'll be hunting tonight, thus she'll most likely be home really late.

"How was the hunt, Akari?" the elderly woman asked, gesturing for the young Tsukumo to come closer. The redhead approached her, albeit visibly reluctantly. She wanted to go to sleep already - and she definitely wasn't in mood for any lectures.

"Fine. I got that guy that attacked the Kamishiro twins a few days ago," she answered; now that she thought about it, these two were attacked more often than all other students together. They surely were attracting trouble easily.

"Good," Haru nodded, her face still remaining gravely serious, which only made Akari even more suspicious and irritated. What was the matter here, she wondered.

"You should rest now. I will need you to watch over Night Class tomorrow. The new students arrived tonight."

_Oh_, _so _that _was the problem_.

Akari huffed loudly, setting her hands on her hips; the towel was left now, hanging loosely on her shoulders. Fucking vampires, always only causing trouble. And they weren't even able to clean their own messes! They needed to be watched closely all the time, they were worse than children; why were they even allowed here, at the Academy?

Haru must have noticed how much the information irritated Akari; she wanted to say something to reassure her at least a little, but the girl didn't let her. Before the older hunter managed to say a word, the redhead shook her head and sighed.

"I guess it can't be helped, huh?" she murmured, resigned. She knew she had no choice. Now, with her parents gone, she and Haru were the ones responsible for keeping peace at school - and she was the only active hunter among the two of them.

"Can we talk about it later? I really need sleep now," she whined yet, looking at her grandma pleadingly.

"Sure. Go and rest, I'll give you details when you wake up," Haru agreed, smiling at her softly. Akari smiled back and then walked off to her room, saluting at the older hunter.

* * *

Yuma walked into the class yawning. He had slept for three hours only, showing school to Michael last night took him more time than he expected—but hey, he didn't complain, he enjoyed spending the time with the vampire. He was so different than everyone he's met from the Night Class so far, he didn't seem like a vampire at all. It was really nice change.

"Hey, Tsukumo," when only he flopped down on his chair, he heard a rather harsh voice. And here he hoped he'd get to sleep through the first hour or two.

"What." He rose his head and saw - Shark. Or rather Ryoga Kamishiro, who everyone called Shark, because of his harsh attitude, apparently. Yuma's roommate, by the way, and his sort-of best friend, too.

The purple-haired boy, like almost always, didn't really bother with wearing his school uniform, as Yuma noticed—and he guessed that the fact he was actually wearing the school jacket was probably his sister's push anyway. He was so glad he wasn't the class representative anymore, so it wasn't his job to scold him.

"You weren't in your bed last night." Shark's tone was quite accusing, and so was his stare. Yuma huffed loudly, rolling his eyes.

"Look who's talking," he snapped back. "If you'd been there when I was leaving, you could have asked where I was going."

Both Shark's hands slammed down on Yuma's desk and he leaned forward, glaring at him, still somewhat suspiciously. The hunter-in-training seemed rather unimpressed, unlike any other person in this situation—he was just so used to Ryoga's threatening.

"It's not your business, what I do at nights," the purple-haired boy growled.

"Neither is it yours what I do!" Yuma stood up now. He liked Ryoga, he really did—but sometimes he was the biggest hell of a pain in the ass he's ever met. And this seemed to be one of these moments.

"Why? Were you breaking some rules and are afraid people would find out that you're not such a saint? Some rules _aside_ from curfew, that is."

At this point, Yuma was fully ready to punch him, even possibly beat the hell out of him if he'd have enough time before the teacher or class representative would come. Fortunately—or not, depending on the point of view—their classmates noticed that Shark was going too far again. Kotori was already holding Tsukumo's hand that he was raising; Fuuya, Tokunosuke and Tetsuo got there, too, though they looked more like they wanted to help Yuma than stop him.

"Get off him, Ryoga. I'm sure he had a reason—and permission—to be out of his room," Fuuya said, wanting to ease the Kamishiro at least a little—but once the latter glared at him, he went silent, backing out instantly.

"Mind your own fucking business, Okudaira. And do _not_ call me Ryoga," Shark hissed, turning back to Yuma; now both of the boys glaring at each other, the hunter-in-training yanked his arm out of his friend's grasp - the girl only huffed loudly.

"So should you," she spoke up, setting her hands on her hips as she turned to Ryoga. She really had enough of this bullshit and him getting his nerves off on Yuma. She didn't even really care if he'd start with her now anymore, she just wanted him to leave Yuma alone.

"It's not Yuma's fault that Rio got sick," she added and Shark instantly stepped back, his face paled slightly. He obviously didn't expect her to know about it—it happened that night, after all—but he quickly realized that it must have been Rio's roommate that told her.

"Tch. Whatever," he muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets and walking away. Yuma blinked several times, confused. Did Kotori just... talk _Shark_ off?

"Shark's sister is... sick?" he asked, finally recalling the information that made Ryoga leave.

"Yeah, but it's nothing really serious. Just a cold," Kotori answered quickly and the hunter-in-training let out a relieved sigh. Everyone knew Rio was a rather fragile and sickly person - she even failed classes because of it. Twice.

"She's not telling what exactly happened, but it must've been last night," Mizuki sighed, rubbing the back of her head.

"I'm sure it had a lot to do with Shark's absence," Yuma muttered bitterly, sitting down again. The others only laughed at his comment.

* * *

When Akari woke up finally, it was almost 3 pm already. She groaned loudly as she looked at the clock and then instantly rolled out of bed. She didn't think she was _that_ tired. On the other hand, she didn't expect anyone to blame her for sleeping in, especially since she had another session with Night Class students awaiting her that night.

Not bothering to get dressed, she walked out of her room, heading to kitchen; she needed a coffee and... well, breakfast, but at this time she wouldn't really call it that. It was more of a lunch time, after all—and considering that, she probably should've expected to meet her grandmother in the kitchen.

"You finally woke up," the elder hunter smiled at her, she only shrugged lightly, smiling back, and waltzed to the coffee machine; turning away for a moment, she couldn't see Haru's face getting deadly serious again, when she glanced at the elder hunter above her shoulder, she's seen only the woman's back, she turned back to the cooker already.

She smiled slightly, smelling the pancakes.

Once her coffee was done, she walked off to it at the table, still watching her grandmother closely—it was then then when she noticed that the elderly woman seemed unusually tense and somewhat nervous; she kept glancing over at Akari every once in a while, she was frowning, as if something bothered her.

Sipping her coffee, the younger woman still looked at the other, her nails repeatedly tapping at the table, somewhat anxiously—she could feel the situation getting awkward and it was really concerning. Wasn't Haru supposed to tell her about these new vampires now?

"So, what's the big deal?" she asked finally, once she downed the coffee. She really needed to break the silence, the tension was getting too thick for her liking—Haru didn't seem to agree with her on that. She remained silent while plating a fair portion of pancakes for Akari and setting the plate down in front of her, and a long while after that, too.

The redhead bit her lower lip, staring blankly at the older hunter now sitting across her at the table. She was getting really nervous, as far as she remembered, her grandmother was so awkwardly quiet only once until now; that was when she was to inform her and Yuma that their parents didn't come back from the hunt—and that they won't come back ever.

"What's wrong with these new guys...?" Akari asked hesitantly, her voice lowering now, so that her tone was barely above a whisper. She knew it must have been about the newly arrived vampires, what else could be the matter after all?

For another long while they just stared at each other in silence; Haru seemed to not know how to approach the subject—every next second of silence made Akari only more anxious and... irritated. No matter what it was and how bad it was, she just wanted to know already, she knew she wasn't the only one who'd feel better then.

"They're purebloods," the elderly woman finally replied, shortly and straight-forward, causing the jaw of younger hunter to drop in shock—for a short while only, as the redhead quickly closed her mouth, licking her lips nervously beforehand.

"Impossible. There's no purebloods in Japan, they were all slaughtered years ago," she muttered, although not really sure of her own words—all these Level E's causing trouble recently were indicating quite the opposite.

"They're not from Japan," Haru replied quickly, shaking her head lightly; the younger hunter almost stood up from her seat in exasperation.

"Then why the hell are they in Japan?!" Her tone rose once again—no wonder she'd get annoyed when everything seemed that she was now supposed to protect the bastards that were running around attacking people. And, even worse, that the brotherhood didn't know they were here—because how else to explain she had no idea about them until now?

"Their father—he was your father's friend once—brought them here several years ago, when he came to help his old friend," the older hunter replied, still remaining stoically calm. Akari often wondered if that cool was a trait one gains after seeing _too much_, or if it simply always was a part of her grandma's personality. Either way, she hated that she lacked it.

"According to him, they were never leaving their mansion, and if so—never alone. He also assured that they're harmless."

"And you're going to just trust a _vampire_?" the redhead huffed loudly and rolled her eyes at the words. Friend of her father or not, like hell she was going to believe that—no vampire was harmless, they were predators, after all.

"I don't really have much of a choice," Haru said rather bitterly and Akari instinctively understood what it meant: he must have paid, most likely a lot. This, in turn, would mean he was desperate to leave them here, likely to keep them safe... why? Were they running from something?

"But it doesn't mean I'm going to trust him—and his sons—completely. That's why I need you to watch over them."

A loud, resigned sigh escaped Akari's lips as she leaned her elbow on the table and rested her chin atop of her hand.

"Three of them, you say?" she asked, glancing over at her grandmother, she only nodded in response. "That's surely gonna be _fun_."

* * *

"Yuma, for god's sake!" The boy was violently woken up with a shout and a smash on his head. He whined loudly, opening his eyes slightly and raising his head to check who the devil who dared to do that was.

"You've slept through all classes! Seriously, what were you doing at night?" Kotori huffed, frowning at him; her arms crossed upon her chest. Yuma looked around confused. In fact the classroom was empty, even the teacher was gone already.

"I told you, I had to help grandma with new Night Class students, since Akari was working," he muttered, getting up from his seat. It wasn't his fault that he was so exhausted after this! It also wasn't his fault that his organism refused to accept that something like _short nap_ could exist.

"Jeez, good that Night Class doesn't get new students often, you'd end up completely unable to function..." the girl sighed as they walked out of the classroom. Speaking of Night Class students, however—she turned back to her friend, quickly changing the subject; "Were they pretty?"

Yuma let out somewhat irritated groan, he rolled his eyes resigned—he kept forgetting that regular students, who didn't know the truth about Night Class, were told that they were just a group of elite students, specially gifted people, who for various reasons couldn't take a normal schedule.

And of course, together with the natural magnetizing beauty that vampires had, it quickly made them gain a fair amount of fans among Day Class students—mainly among the girls, though the reason behind that could be the lack of female students in the Night Class.

"How am I supposed to know? I'm a boy," he finally muttered his response. It was only an evasive excuse though, he just didn't want Kotori to dwell on the subject of the Arclights—and to be perfectly honest, he had to admit that Michael was definitely someone who could be called "pretty". He had no idea about his brothers, though.

"More guys then, ehh?" Kotori sighed, pouting slightly; she seemed rather disappointed—and maybe somehow annoyed? "What, are girls not good enough to get there?"

* * *

They made it to the gate just in time to see the Night Class leaving their dorm—Yuma didn't really want to go, but Kotori insisted that she wanted to see the new students, so he eventually agreed to accompany her.

He sighed heavily, seeing from afar Todoroki—the Day Class representative—trying to restrain the overly excited girls on his own; Akari wasn't there to help him today, Yuma guessed she was asked to watch the Night Class tonight. He felt really sorry for the guy, though.

The gate opened literally the same moment when they caught up with the heated crowd. The Day Class students went silent for a brief moment, only several gasps could be heard as they all stood in even lines, making space for the Night Class.

"Oh c'mon," Yuma muttered under his breath and, even though Kotori ran to join the other girls in the line, stayed in the back, away from the excessively eager fangirls. "They're not even that cool..."

He knew what he was talking about, he met them all personally after all.

The first to come out of the Moon Dorm—or rather storm out of there—was a tall, long-haired blond. He was walking quickly, obviously wanting to make it past the girls—many of whom were letting out loud gasps of admiration or whispering his name—as fast as only possible. Yuma knew well how pointless the attempts to get his attention were; Mizael considered humans an under-race, for him they weren't even worth looking at.

Closely following Mizael was another male; much shorter, silver-haired, always wearing glasses—this always intrigued Yuma, as a vampire he couldn't need them, after all. Unlike the other boy, who was looking straight ahead, Durbe stared rather at the ground, sometimes shooting quick glances at the crowd around him.

Yuma, and everyone in the Day Class, could easily tell the two were close, as they were almost always seen together—but what exactly they were to each other, he couldn't tell.

Next were the Shingetsu twins, two identical, orange-haired boys, but even though they looked the same, it was really hard to mistake them for each other; Rei, the older twin—Night Class' representative, by the way—was a cheerful, kind guy, one of the very few among vampire students that one could actually talk to, sometimes.

Meanwhile Vector, his younger brother... was just creepy. He was always spreading a murderous aura around, even Yuma, despite being a hunter, and thus aware and used to how bloodthirsty vampires could be, had chills whenever the guy looked at him—he was simply scary.

Next behind them was Alito, to be honest Yuma's favourite until Michael arrived at the Academy. He looked quite unusual for a vampire, due to his dark skin—Tsukumo guessed it was a family trait though, he's seen his father once, they looked almost the same.

Alito was the only one who didn't even try to ignore his fans from the Day Class; he was openly smiling at the girls, greeting them all enthusiastically—reaching Kotori he shot a finger at her, exclaiming loudly "bang"; she giggled as he did that and Yuma rolled his eyes. Here was the actual reason why she wanted to come, the two of them were hopelessly hitting on each other for a good while.

Next was a group of three: tall and muscular Gilag, a rather scary looking guy with a soft spot for animals and other cute things; beautiful Sanagi—a pop star; and Aika, Alito's sister—Yuma still wondered how the two could be related, they didn't look alike at all. They all seemed to be slightly embarrassed by Alito's behaviour, even though they should be used to it by now.

And then, finally, there were the Arclights, the new students. Coming first was a tall, to Yuma unfamiliar boy with blond-carmine hair; Michael's brother that got lost somewhere last night, he assumed. His eyes were searching attentively through the crowd, but from the frown on his face Yuma could tell he couldn't see what he wanted to.  
What did he look for, Yuma wondered.

Closely behind him there was Michael, he looked just as lost and anxious as he was last night, when Yuma found him—until he caught the hunter-in-training's stare in the crowd, that is. Yuma smiled at him reassuringly and he instantly smiled back.

That short moment when he turned his attention to the younger Arclight completely, was more than enough for his brother to cause a mess already—hearing the girls' jealous squealing, Yuma turned around, just to see the blond standing right in front of a now blushing Kotori; with a slight frown he stared at her critically, playing with her hair absently.

Something about that expression made Yuma unusually wary—it was almost like Vector's smile.

He and Michael quickly exchanged looks and, seeing how terrified the young vampire looked, Yuma quickly rushed to the pair—so did Michael, though he decided to go around his brother, so that he'd stand now in Alito's way—even though Gilag was already holding the furiously jealous vampire back.

The other vampires also stopped—well, all except Mizael, who was_ still_ more interested in getting to the class, than anything what pertained to humans—everyone's attention was turned to Thomas now, who, slightly pouting , kept twirling a strand of the girl's hair around his finger.

"What are you—" Yuma spoke up, but the vampire didn't let him finish the sentence; he moved his hand back on his own, closing his eyes and shaking his head lightly.

"Must be that ribbon," he murmured, slowly turning back; the statement threw all, Kotori, Yuma and Michael, into a state of pure confusion. Most of the vampires left upon that, seeing that likely no harm was meant; leaving only Gilag, Alito and the Arclights behind.

"E-excuse me...?" The green-haired girl stuttered, her hand raising involuntarily, wandering to the ribbon that kept her hair tied.

"Red doesn't suit you," he explained shortly, looking at her above his shoulder. His indifferent expression made Yuma weirdly suspicious, he seemed to be mocking someone... but it wouldn't make sense, right? He just arrived here.

"Try orange maybe," he added, turning his back on her again and slowly walking away; Michael gave Yuma a brief confused look and quickly rushed to his brother.

"What the hell was that?" he asked; as they walked past the other two vampires, Thomas smirked at Alito teasingly—at this point Michael didn't really need an answer anymore—and then turned to his little brother, smiling innocently.

"You know how much I love making others jealous."

* * *

Akari cursed under her breath, running through the hallway—she had to listen to one of the teachers' complaining about Yuma sleeping in class, again, and she didn't even notice how late it got. In her rush she even almost forgot to take her gun.

She really couldn't understand why they couldn't just tell the truth about vampires to the teachers, she was sick already of making up excuses as to why Yuma sometimes had to handle some things in her place.

Running from behind a corner, she completely didn't expect anyone to walk this way in this very moment—she bumped into them and instantly fell, she couldn't hear the other person falling too, however.

"I'm sorry, I'm in hurry and I just—" she stuttered, trying to quickly get back up and then, when she rose her head and actually looked at the person she ran into, she fell back to the ground, blurting out a quiet; "Oh god."

In front of her there was a young man—a simply gorgeous one. So tall, with long, snow-white hair with pastel purple and green fringe, pale complexion, magnetizing dark blue eyes—somewhat sad, she noticed—and a peaceful expression as he smiled at her apologetically, leaning down and offering her a hand to help her stand up.

"Thanks," she muttered, taking his hand; upon feeling the coldness of his skin, she instantly understood where that stunning beauty of his came from—he was a vampire.  
One of the new students? No, probably the teacher, or so the lack of uniform indicated.

"I do apologize as well, I should have paid more attention," he said calmly, helping her back to her feet; the smile disappearing from his face as quickly as it appeared.

"You must be the headmaster's granddaughter," he guessed, letting go of her hand.

"A-ah—right," she nodded her head, slightly nervously; for a moment she didn't move her hand, then quickly backed it out—he seemed somehow amused with her reactions. "I'm Akari, Akari Tsukumo."

"It's good I've run into you then," he nodded as well, almost smiling again, at his own words. "Because I seem to be lost—ah right, I'm Christopher Arclight, the new teacher for the Night Class."

"So I guessed—if you were a student, you'd just follow the others to the class," she noted, smiling at him lightly; now she noticed he seemed quite distracted—she wondered about what.

"Follow me then," she said as she shook her head lightly, then turned to lead him in the right direction; with a slight nod he followed her quietly.

_Damn vampires_, was all what she thought.


End file.
